


Supernova

by BraelynnBrown



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Adventures, Amnesia, Anxiety, Cisgender, F/M, Family Bonding, Fear, Female Morty Smith, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Lies, Overprotective Family, References to Depression, Secrets, Sisterly Love, Trauma, sorta - Freeform, strained marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-10 23:07:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12309783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BraelynnBrown/pseuds/BraelynnBrown
Summary: Something isn't right, and Morticia can't quite place the odd feeling in her gut.Sure, everything seems normal. Anxiety, mild depression, and a healthy dose of fear was nothing new. It didn't explain why she sometimes flinched when her family members came near, or why they had a look of knowing and understanding in their eyes. Except for Rick, who is too drunk most of the time to even remember much of anything. (Or so she thinks).It doesn't help that she knows her family is keeping secrets from her. Sure they seem to be doing really great job of it, if she wasn't paying super close attention she wouldn't have noticed the tell tale signs. She knows they mean well.But with the way they are watching her, as though she could disappear at any given moment, she feels like a supernova, waiting to explode.======Female Morty Smith with what I hope you will find to be a surprising twist.(Cisgender Woman Morticia)





	1. S1E01: Pilot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, this story will follow closely with the show, like really closely. There is a twist, a cookie to anyone who can guess it.
> 
> Some basics to understand when reading this:
> 
> 1\. This is not a Rick/Morty (Morticia) fit. Everyone is entitled to their ships, which means I have a right not to ship it.
> 
> 2\. Because this is a female incarnation there may be episodes I do not do, like the one with Morty Jr., simply because growing up there are different standards set for boys and girls developmentally and one thing about Morty Jr. means Morticia would have to be pregnant. These chapters will be replaced with problems that may relate to the twist, or the puberty of a female. Please respect that.
> 
> 3\. I haven't decided if I want to make this a Morticia/Jessica fic yet. Even if this does become a ship it won't be as prominent as in the show for several reasons that relate to the twist.
> 
> 4\. That being said Morticia is bisexual 
> 
> 5\. Morticia is cisgender.

She was sleeping peacefully.

 

            It was actually a rare occurrence that the brown-haired adolescent got more than four hours of sleep a night, and she had been asleep for five. Her body curled in on itself, relishing in the good dreams. Her comforter covered her body and with her pajamas consisting of a large t-shirt borrowed from her mother and a pair of old, worn athletic shirts she was at the perfect temperature. A small smile graced her face, visible only by the barest hint of her face that wasn’t smothered by her pillow or covered by her hands.

 

It wasn’t often that she had pleasant dreams.

 

            The young girl often had horrible nightmares that would leave her reeling, even after she had shot up in to a sitting position. It was more often than not she would wake to dried tears and a slight yelp than drool and yawn which customarily accompanied a good nights rest.

 

Of course, it seemed like the world was conspiring against her.

 

====== 

 

Her door flew open and the light was flicked on.

 

“Morticia, you got to come on.” Her grandfather hit the floor and was pulling himself up simultaneously. The girl, Morticia, didn’t even need to see the bottle to know he was drunk. “You got to come with me.”

 

            Pulling herself up the girl mentally groaned. She was having such a good dream too. Her body protested begging her to go back to sleep, God how she needed sleep. She had been so lucky to have a good dream, and there was no promise that she would be so lucky the next night.

 

Still she found it within her sleep addled mind to respond.

 

“What, Rick?” She moved to wipe the sleep from her eyes in a practiced motion. Back and forth, rubbing away sleep. “What’s going on?” She couldn’t deny the quivering mess that was her voice accompanying the question.

 

“I got a surprise for you, Morticia.” The brown-haired girl ignored the way her body flinched as her grandfather pulled himself up on her bed spilling some of his beer as he went. It was probably the stench of alcohol and the coolness that caused her body’s reaction. The blue haired male placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

“It’s, it’s the middle of the night. What are you talking about?” Her gaze shifted to his hand as he repeated his earlier statement. Morticia couldn’t help but wonder how drunk he was, or if he would even remember the incident in the morning.

 

Her thought process was interrupted by her body being dragged out of bed by her ankle.

 

“Ow.” Her voice was shrill as she attempted to grab on to her bed, body still pleading to be left alone to sleep. “Ow! You’re tugging me to hard.” Her face hit the floor before she twisted around to see the ceiling as her crazy scientist of a grandfather dragged her to the garage. 

 

====== 

 

Summer heard the commotion in the other room.

 

            She wanted to get up and beg her grandfather to allow her little sister to sleep. The red-haired girl was good at hiding it, but she cared very deeply for her sister and it pained her to hear the muffled yelps and pained whines she would often let out while she slept. Begging them to stop. Pleading with people who could no longer hurt her, but had scared her enough that she was always on edge.

 

Always scared of what she perceived as inevitable betrayal.

 

            Perhaps she could mention it in the morning, she swore she would if her little sister appeared to be in any danger. She didn’t want to get her Grandpa Rick in to any trouble with her parents, which was the only reason why she hadn’t mentioned it before. 

 

Because she was terrified of the repercussions.

 

            She knew her grandfather would never hurt her, sure he was an emotionless asshole who didn’t believe in love but she knew somewhere in his heart he cared for her, cared for her mother and Morticia as well. Cared enough not to outright physically harm or maim them. Sure psychologically he could beat them all relentlessly, twist them to what he wanted, but she knew he wouldn’t go after them as punishment.

 

Because Rick Sanchez hated her father.

 

            Summer could admit her father was a bit of a simpleton, and the contempt shared between him and Rick was no secret. Which is why the oldest daughter of the Smith family _knew_ Rick would target her father. Seeing him as the biggest threat. Because even if Summer were the one to bring it up, her father would be the one making the biggest fuss about it.

 

The red head turned over, steeling herself for the inevitable shit storm that would be breakfast.

 

====== 

 

She was fighting off sleep as they soared above city.

 

            Her arms were crossed and she was doing her best not to fall asleep by staring at the twinkling stars in the sky. She knew that she had to stay awake. When Rick got this drunk stuff usually got really scary and real.

 

**Fast.**

 

“What do you [burps] what do you think of this flying vehicle, Morticia?” He slouched forward over the wheel and Morticia felt a little anxious, was he sober enough to be flying? Screw that, was he even sober enough to be walking? “I built it out of stuff I found in the garage.”

 

She couldn’t even will her head to look at him as she replied.

 

“Yeah, Rick. It’s… it’s great.” She forced her body forward shifting a bit so she could see her grandfather. “Is this the surprise?” She wouldn’t deny that a real life flying saucer was cool, but could it not have waited till the morning? Or after school?

 

“Morticia, I had to… I had to do…” the blue haired man stretched before bringing his hand down causing alcohol to spill out of the bottle as he leaned over closely to Morticia. “I had too… I had to… I had to make a bomb, Morticia.” He pulled away as the vehicle bumped causing a couple of the empty beer cans to hit one another making a clinking noise.

 

Any thoughts, or lingering feelings of sleep, left her in that instance.

 

“What?! A bomb?!” The girl could feel her eyes widen comically at her grandfather’s statement. Oh, Jesus Christ, her family. Mom, Dad, Summer, were they all going to die? Or was Rick taking her to a secluded location to kill her?

 

“We’re going to drop it down there… Just get a whole fresh start, Morticia.” Her grandfather slumped in his seat as her heart beat picked up. No, he couldn’t. He couldn’t kill her family, they were his family too! Mom was his daughter, Summer his oldest granddaughter, and Dad… Well okay Grandpa Rick would totally be ok with killing her father. He loathed, absolutely hated his son-in-law, but Mom and Summer! “Create a whole fresh start.”

 

            Morticia slid down in her seat, anxiety gripping her heart as her blue haired grandfather swung his arm back causing liquid poison to spill from the green bottle that had obviously sent him over the edge of drunk, into shit faced.

 

“That’s… that’s absolutely crazy.” She could feel her heart beating rapidly and her vision blurring as her panic continued to sky rocket. Her arms flailed as her grandfather tried to placate her.

 

“Right now, we’re going to pick up your little friend…” she cut her grandfather off there. She had absolutely no clue who he was talking about. She didn’t have friends. Not a single one.

 

She quickly told him as much.

 

            Perhaps if he realized that he had gotten a factor wrong he would stop. He might disarm the bomb, stop with this entire crazy plan. She begged with all her heart to whatever deity was out there to make her Grandpa Rick stop.

 

“I… I don’t have any friends, Grandpa Rick.” She stressed this enough to where he turned his head to face her. His drunken face held confusion before a spark of realization flashed in his eyes.

 

Sadly, it didn’t seem to deter him.

 

“You… you know what, Morticia? That’s okay. To… to not have any friends. Who needs them.” He pressed a button and an electronic voice filled her ears.

 

‘Arming Neutrino bomb.’

 

            Her decision of what to do was made in that moment. She slid off her seat belt quickly, anger and adrenaline coursing through her veins, caused by her underlying anxiety.

 

“That’s it… that’s it Rick. I’m taking the wheel.” She threw her arms and body towards the wheel, objective and goal in mind. The bomb flashed red giving off an eerie glow within the cabin. She ignored it, along with her grandfather’s protest.

 

The situation escalated quickly, but at the same time not at all.

 

            Her grandfather finally agreed to land the ship. He did so by hovering over a spot slowly descending for a couple of moments before slamming the ship to the ground. The brown hair girl felt her body jolt, unable to breath even as her grandfather opened the door. Causing beer cans to tumble out before he himself rolled out of the car. Much to drunk to stand.

 

She welcomed the fresh air into her lungs.

 

“Oh, thank God.” Her body slumped over the trash as her strength left her and her body crumbled beneath her.

 

“You know what? That was all a test, Morticia.” His words were slightly more slurred as his arm raised holding the index finger up, a drunken grin on his face as the mad scientist explained in his inebriated state. “An elaborate test to make you more assertive, Morticia.” She asked for confirmation as he reached inside his lab coat to grab more alcohol, only to fall asleep as soon as the flask was removed

 

She wished she could join him in unconsciousness.

 

            Somehow though she knew her body wouldn’t allow her to slip into blissful sleep after a stunt like that. Her heart was still beating rapidly and she was certain that even if she was able to fall asleep only the terrors she wouldn’t remember once waking would greet her. Spurred on by her anxiety.

 

She resigned herself to getting lost in her thoughts until her grandfather woke up.

 

====== 

 

Beth watched her youngest daughter closely.

 

            Morticia looked pale, and the bags under her eyes were becoming increasingly noticeable. It worried her as a mother. She knew about Morticia’s nightmares, honestly Beth was pretty sure even Jerry had caught on.

 

“I see there’s a new episode of that singing show tonight.” Her husband absent mindedly tried to start up a conversation. “Who do you guys think is gonna be the best singer.” The brown-haired man placed down his tablet.

 

Beth sighed.

 

            Jerry was, well her husband was very bad at reading these situations. He completely missed Summer’s disinterest and Beth’s worry over their youngest child. The blonde woman knew he was ignoring her father’s blatant indifference all together.

 

She wanted to scream.

 

            The horse surgeon almost did when her brown-haired daughter face planted into her breakfast. The worried mother bit the inside of her cheek.

 

“Oh, my God. Her head is in her food. I’m going to puke.” Beth looked at her eldest daughter and the way her arms were crossed. If she wasn’t _really_ looking she would have missed the briefest flash of concern in the eldest Smith girl’s eyes.

 

Beth decided to take action.

 

“Morticia, are you getting sick?” She laced her voice with a slight tinge of annoyance to hide the fear wanting to rip its way through her throat. She had to tread carefully, if her youngest thought she was pressing matters she may shut down completely. “I told you not to practice-kiss the living-room pillow. The dog sleeps on it.” She allowed her concern to leak in her voice now. 

 

 _Carefully_ she reminded herself. 

 

            There was another reason she was watching how she responded to the situation so closely, if Morticia thought her mom was paying to close attention to her she may think that her mother thought something was _wrong_ with her.

 

And not in the medical sense.

 

“I wasn’t kissing a pillow, Mom.” Morticia rubbed at her eyes managing to scrape a couple hash browns off the left side of her face. “I just… I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Beth watched as Morticia forced her eyes open and sat up a bit straighter causing Beth to get a better view of her daughter. 

 

Morticia’s hair was mostly wavy, but the tangled curls attested to the fact the brown-haired girl hadn’t really brushed her hair this morning, merely used her fingers to deal with the bigger and more prominent tangles. Her skin was a bit pastier then her usual, accentuating the bags under the youngest child’s eyes. Her yellow t-shirt was wrinkly and slightly tucked in to blue jeans, which wasn’t all that strange. Her daughter wore a variety of denim based bottoms ranging from long jeans, to overalls and a yellow shirt was an everyday occurrence.

 

It was her posture that really worried Beth.

 

Her daughter’s voice once again brought her out of her musings and back to reality.

 

“Maybe my dreams were just too loud, or something.” Morticia was holding her head up with her hands, as if it would fall back in to her food.

 

“Or maybe you were up all night again with Grandpa Rick.” Summer pointed out, eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she looked at the blue haired male stationed across the table.

 

The fan started slinging shit as soon as the switch had been flipped.

 

            That is to say, Jerry’s reaction had been immediate. His face twisted in horror before morphing into rage at his father-in-law. Beth turned her gaze to her eldest who was looking at her finger nails.

 

“Dad?” Beth questioned her father. She was a bit upset that he had done this, again, but she was willing to listen to his explanation, praying it would be reasonable.

 

“What so everyone is supposed to sleep every single night now?” The way he kept eating his food told Beth her father knew where this was going, and he didn’t care. “Y-you realize that nighttime makes up half of all time?” 

 

Ok, so he had been drinking.

 

            Beth knew the signs of her father’s hangover, not that it was hard to tell. As much as she loved and idolized her father a part of her, buried deep within her own mind, knew her father enjoyed his alcohol whenever and wherever he wanted. Not that she would ever mention it, for fear it would cause him to leave.

 

“Damnit!” her husband slammed his fist down on the table causing the silver wear to momentarily bounce.

 

“Jerry!” The blonde admonished her husband discreetly flicking her eyes to her father and the children.

 

“Oh, my God. My parents are so loud. I want to die.” Summer whined directing her attention towards the pattern on the table cloth.

 

            Beth watched her father stop chewing his food for a moment to look at his daughter. He swallowed giving off scolding noise from the back of his throat before addressing the red-headed teenager.

 

“Mm, there is no God, Summer. You got to rip that Band-Aid off now. You’ll thank me later.” Beth watched as her father expertly ignored Jerry’s glare and went back to eating like nothing is wrong.

 

“Okay, with all due respect, Rick,” Jerry paused eyebrows raising as a perplexed look crossed his face. “What am I talking about? What respect is due?” His hand flung from his head to the air in front of him as her rebuked himself. Turning his focus back on Rick he started raising his voice, “How is my daughter supposed to pass her classes if you keep dragging her off for high-concept sci-fi rigmarole?” The brown-haired male allowed his anger to shine through his voice.

 

Beth watched her father role his eyes.

 

“Listen, Jerry. I-I don’t want to overstep my boundaries or anything.” Beth internally cringed, she knew he was baiting Jerry. “It’s your house. It’s your world. You’re a real Julius Caesar. But I’ll tell you some… tell you how… how I… how I feel about school, Jerry.”

 

“It’s a waste of time… A bunch of people running around, bumping in to each other.” Rick started cutting into another sausage as he continued to talk. “G-guy up front says, ‘Two plus two.’ The people in the back say ‘Four.’ Then the… then the bell rings, and they give you a carton of milk and a piece of paper that says you can go take a dump or something.” Her father turned to look directly in her husband’s eyes.

 

“I mean, it’s… it’s not a place for smart people Jerry.” His eyes rolled as he continued. “I know it’s not a… not a popular opinion, but it’s my two cents on the issue.” He wiped his mouth before standing up and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

 

She forced herself to smile, because oh God he could leave.

 

“This was a good breakfast, Beth. You really made the crap out of those eggs.” He started walking away, “I wish your mother was here to eat them.”

 

“Oh, Dad.” She said gently turning to watch him leave, ignoring Jerry’s outburst.

 

She heard a thud and could only assume Morticia was face first in her food again.

 

====== 

 

“All right, now everybody get settled. Get away from those windows!”

 

            A heavier set man stood in front of a chalkboard glaring at the sea of kids before him. His blue tie and orange undershirt clashed with his yellow sweater causing Morticia to avoid eye contact.

 

“Now look, we’re going to be dealing with some real serious stuff today.” His hands moved to his hips as his eyes narrowed. “You might have heard of it, it’s called math. And without it, none of us would even exist.”

 

            Morticia was glad she sat in the back. It allowed her to glance out the window without getting caught she completely ignored the lecture focusing instead on the fluffy clouds outside the window before moving her eyes to scan the classroom. She caught a glimpse of red hair and remembered Jessica was in her class.

 

Jessica was nice, in a sense.

 

            She seemed kind enough, but she also seemed like the type of girl to go for toxic relationships by circumstance of wanting to feel loved and appreciated. Not that there was anything wrong with that. It did, however, cause Morticia to be a little warry of the girl, watching out both for her, and watching out **_for_** her. Nothing against her friends but they didn’t seem the best.

 

A test paper was placed on her desk.

 

            She couldn’t focus and the number reminded her of something, something forgotten. They jumped off the paper and started to swirl around her as her consciousness slowly slipped from her grasp throwing her into a nightmare.

 

====== 

 

She woke up with a start as normal.

 

            Her teacher was looking at her with eyebrows furrowed. He seemed a little concerned. The man was usually, if not always, distant with his class. Giving off annoyance instead of caring, not that Morticia blamed him.

 

He had been placed in charge of the ‘stupid’ kids.

 

            Peeling her head off her arms though she saw the concern flaring in his eyes. She was the last one left, so it was unlikely that whatever had tormented her during math class had been too bad. Rubbing at her eyes she realized it had been bad enough to make her cry instead. Wiping her eyes, she went about gathering her bag.

 

“Miss. Smith, are you okay?” Her teacher was not the best, like earlier mentioned he was rather annoyed with teaching supplementary courses, and he didn’t really _like_ Morticia as a person either. He did hold a concern for his students though.

 

“I-I’m f-fine.” She rushed out of the classroom.

 

====== 

 

It happened in the hall way.

 

            Morticia was exchanging books and papers from Math to History, mentally berating herself for the falling asleep incident in class earlier.

 

“Well, well, well.” A voice the brown-haired girl recognized caused her back to go stiff as she turned around to face its owner. 

 

            Before her stood her worst nightmare, he had never assaulted her per say, but she had seen what he had done to kids like her. She knew exactly what this encounter would entail, and she knew she would not like it.

 

“Uh, morning Frank.” She said politely as she tried to diffuse the situation having already assessed it as soon as he approached her.

 

“Morning?” The pasty-faced boy grabbed the front of her shirt and slammed her against the locker. The Freshman girl wanted to cry, but it was like she was trapped in her own mind. Her throat constricted and fear bubbled to the surface, releasing itself from the pores of her skin.

 

            Morticia didn’t know why, but she felt as though she had been in a situation like this before, which made her anxiety all the worst. Her vision started blurring, which was bad as Frank had yet to do anything besides shoving her against her own locker. 

 

“What was… what is that supposed to mean?” He started shoving his face closer to her and she could smell his breath. It reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. One of the two only pushed her closer to the edge of a meltdown, though she couldn’t quite discern which.

 

“You making fun of me? Are you trying to say my family’s poor?” He pulled out a knife and held is close to her throat, but that was all it took.

 

To push her over the edge.

 

            Morticia felt her body crumble as she gasped for air, hands grasping her hair as she curled in on herself. Her forehead met her knees and she let loose a soul shattering whimper that had the school bully taking a step back in surprise.

 

She couldn’t breathe.

 

====== 

 

Rick had been there since the beginning.

 

            He would be the first to admit he was a bit of a dick, to stand by and watch this happen. He was a Rick however, and Rick’s didn’t have emotions, least of all for a Morty. So he stood there and watched. He couldn’t understand why his granddaughter was behaving the way she was, sure she was a goddamn pansy, but shit.

 

And then he remembered.

 

            He couldn’t stop himself from getting angry and pulling out the gun, as a Rick he wasn’t supposed to _care_ , but he did. He was the Rickiest Rick of them all though, so he refused to acknowledge the niggling in the back of his mind reminding how big of an ass he was.

 

He had to focus on something else.

 

Getting rid of that dipshit who thought it was a good idea to pick on his granddaughter seemed good enough. He refused to accept that the kid was bending down with an apologetic look on his face. It was much too late for apologies in Rick’s eyes.

 

Because Rick was the only one allowed to fuck with his family.

 

====== 

 

“Morticia?” Frank’s voice penetrated her inability to think, to breathe. She saw him putting the knife away and hold his hands up in a placating manner, not that it worked. He moved to crouch down, this in turn caused Morticia to squeak and curl even further in on herself as she huddled closer to the locker and further from him.

 

            Her eyes were wide and unfocused, shifting as erratically as her breathing. She looked like a mad woman, or rather a frightened deer or rabbit. She could see the guilt growing on Frank’s face as he gently reached out towards her, but that did not mean it registered in her current state of mind.

 

“Jesus fuck, Morticia. I’m so-” Frank’s face scrunched up in pain as a layer of ice incased him. The brown-haired girl still wasn’t able to see straight when her grandfather gently pulled her away. 

 

“There you are, Morticia.” Her grandfather’s voice, so uncaring and unemotional was like a beacon to her. For some reason, she felt a mixture of fear and ease when she realized he was around. “Listen to me. I got an errand to run in a whole different dimension.” He spread his arms as he blocked her view of Frank. “I need an extra pair of hands.

 

“Oh, geez, Rick.” Her breathing was starting to pace itself out again, though her voice was still an octave or two higher than normal as she pointed at Frank with a worried look on her face. “W-what’d you do to Frank?”

 

Her grandfather was not amused.

 

“It’s pretty obvious, Morticia.” The blue haired man rolled his eyes. “I froze him.” Grabbing her shoulders her grandfather pulled her so she was no longer looking at Frank but her undivided attention was on him. “Now listen… I need your help, Morticia.” He gently started shaking the young adolescent.

 

“I mean we got… we got to get… get the hell out of here and go take care of business.” After the mad scientist completed his sentence he let out a belch. Leaning in closely Rick help up his pointer finger in order to emphasize his point. “It’s important. Come on, Morticia.”

 

It was then Morticia realized she was between a rock and a hard place.

 

“I-I don’t know Rick. I can-can’t leave school again.” Images of this morning flashed through her mind. She was causing in unrest within the family, she was being a problem.

 

Her grandfather raised half of his blue eyebrow at that statement, unimpressed.

 

“Do you have any concept of how much higher the stakes get out there, Morticia?” He was all up in her personal space within a moment. “What do you think… I can just do it all by myself? Come on!”

 

“Aw, geez. Okay.” She looked down. She was never able to deny him an adventure. Perhaps she was afraid that if he went out alone he might never make it back alive. “I guess I can skip history.” She turned to look at Frank, frozen in a squatting down position. “W-what about Frank? I mean shouldn’t you unfreeze him?”

 

“I’ll do it later, Morticia. He’ll be fine.” Rick stressed the fine as he grabbed hold of her upper arm and began to lead her away. “Let’s go.”

 

====== 

 

Unbeknownst to either of the pair Summer turned the corner soon after they left.

 

            Frank Palicky had been her crush for nearly a month and two weeks, not that anyone knew. Not even Morticia. She was freaking out when she saw him squatting. This was a story they would tell their kids. She walked up to him and let her book fall down.

 

“Oops.” Her voice was shy as she bent down to pick it up. Looking up she smiled. “Hi Frank.”

 

She could only scream as her world shattered.

 

====== 

 

Beth was in the middle of surgery when Jerry decided to burst in.

 

“Scalpel.” The blonde heart surgeon demanded as she stood over a brown horse. A scalpel was handed to her by Davin. Her solid attention was broken by an all to familiar, and at this moment grating voice.

 

“Knock, knock.” Her husband walked into the OR (operating room) causing her focus to shift. “My manager gave me an hour for lunch, and I thought, ‘Hey, why not swing by where your wife works?’”

 

            The horse began to flat line, which Tom decided to commentate on. She turned back to the horse to pump the heart and regain the beat.

 

“Jerry,” her voice was pleading, not only to him but to anyone willing to listen. “Please tell me you’re here for an incredibly urgent reason.”

 

His response was not satisfactory.

 

The horse flat lined once more and she had to manually pump the heart once more.

 

“Okay. I only ask because, as you know, my job involves preforming heart surgery.” Her voice became stressed. When he mentioned how it was only on horse she saw red, and it was not the blood staining her gloves.

 

As he left he revealed the real reason for coming to her work place, and she was not pleased.

 

====== 

 

“There she is.”

 

Rick shot of a retro looking gun that caused a green portal to appear before him and Morticia.

 

“Come on, Morticia. Let’s go.” The blue haired genius stepped closer to the portal and slung his hand back using his thumb to point at the glowing green portal behind him. It was some sort of come hither sign.

 

“Oh, geez.” She gently scratched her head, and quickly regretted not brushing it this morning when her fingers got tangled in a really curly portion of hair that had banded together against her. “Okay.”

 

They were in an alleyway by the school.

 

And then they weren’t.

 

“Oh man, Rick.” As she looked around she took in the brightly, and oddly, colored world. “What is this place?”

 

As he described dimension 35-C and their objective here she suddenly felt anxious.

 

So she voiced her concerns.

 

“Listen to me, Morticia. I know that new situations can be intimidating.” Her grandfather was kneeling so he was on her level, one of his hands on her shoulder. “You’re looking around, and it’s all scary and different, but, you know m-meeting them head on, charging right into them… like a bull… that’s how we grow as people.” His eyebrow was pulled into a sympathetic look. “I’m no stranger to scary situations. I deal with them all the time. Now if you just stick with me, Morticia, we’re going to be…” his voice changed as he pushed the brunette backwards a little. “Holy crap, Morticia, run!”

 

And then they were off, running for their lives.

 

====== 

 

So, they were alive, score.

 

“Oh, Morticia, take a deep breath.” Some strange bird flapped past them as she and her grandfather wandered aimlessly forward. “Breath that… breath that fresh air in, Morticia. Y-you smell that?” He didn’t even wait for an answer. “That’s the smell of adventure, Morticia.”

 

“All right, Rick. L-look…” she was starting to get frustrated, she had told him she couldn’t miss much more school. “How much longer is this going to be, shouldn’t I be back at school by now?” Her parents were going to kill her. She was dead, so very dead.

 

“Are you joking me?” He swung his arm our motioning to the world around them, a world vastly different from their own. A much more primitive world, yet just as dangerous. “I mean, look at all the crazy crap surrounding us. He pulled her forward and gripped her face directing her gaze at something that looked rather, deformed? “I mean look at… look at that thing right there. W-what the hell is that thing? You think you’re going to see that kind of thing at school?”

 

“Yeah, Rick, I get it. We’re surrounded by monsters. That’s kind of the reason I want to leave.” She slapped his hands off of her. Only for him to grab her when they found their objective. The mega trees.

 

He gave her a pair of boots; too bad she didn’t turn them on.

 

====== 

 

“I am not putting my father in a home! He just came back into my life and you want to grab him and stuff him under a mattress like last month’s Victoria Secret?” Her voice showed her anger and rage, even as Jerry replied.

 

“I told you,” he said throwing his hands in the air, “I was ordering you something for Valentine’s Day.” He stepped forward. “More importantly your father is a horrible influence on our daughter!”

 

Davin walked by, and made the situation worse.

 

“Everything fine in here, Beth?”

 

“It’s fine, Davin.” She assured him as he commented on the wonders of their job. Which of course sent Jerry off on a jealous tirade.

 

“Since we’re fighting, if you ever have an affair with that guy, I will come to the hotel room and blow my brains out all over your naked bodies.” She wanted to comfort him, she wasn’t going to risk an affair.

 

Because it meant the possibility of losing the children.

 

“Look, I appreciate the stress you’re under, but Morticia was having trouble in school way before my dad moved in.” She rested a hand on his upper arm. “The only influence I can see Rick having is that, for the first time in her life, Morticia has a friend.” Pausing she looked her husband dead in the eye. “And who knows what he’ll take with him when he leaves.”

 

The phone rang and she went to answer it.

 

“Mrs. Smith, this is Principal Vagina… no relation. I wonder if you and Morticia’s father might be able to have a chat with me this afternoon?”

 

====== 

 

Her legs were broken.

 

            Oh, dear sweet Lord they were broken, and she was most likely crippled, and oh it just hurt so much. The sight of her leg tilted in an odd direction caused her stomach to turn in disgust, if it wasn’t already churning with pain.

 

Whimpers of pain left her lips.

 

            Her heart was heavy, it hurt. Like her worst fears coming true and the weight of it was crushing her. Rick walked down at a leisurely pace, and began to mock her stupidity. It didn’t hurt in the way it should have, it was as though she already knew what a stupid idiot her grandfather thought her to be.

 

She interrupted his tirade as soon as he brought up the seeds again.

 

            The seeds were all he was thinking about, all she was good for in his eyes. A tool for him to twist to complete whatever task he had laid out.

 

It didn’t matter what happened to her, she was just a means to an end.

 

            It hurt a little, not as much as she thought it should. It still gripped her heart gently. She let out a wail that represented her emotional pain more than the physical aches she was currently facing. She snapped.

 

“A-are you kidding me?” she fought back the tears that threatened to spill. She couldn’t believe this, she didn’t want to. “That’s it, Rick!” she forced her upper body to lift so she was looking in her grandfather’s general direction. “That’s the last straw! I-I can’t believe this… I’m sitting here with both of my legs broken,” she flopped back on to the smooth ground, “and you’re still asking me about getting those seeds?!” she withered in pain. “Y-you’re a monster! Y-you’re like Hitler, but… but even Hitler cared about Germany or something.”

 

That was low, she would admit.

 

            She had just compared her grandfather to a merciless dictator, or so her father had said when she asked about Pearl Harbor, who killed thousands of innocent people. Sure the man before her was a grade A jerk, but he was still her grandfather.

 

“Okay hold on just a second, Morticia.” As her Grandpa Rick opened a green portal she wanted to scream, to beg him not to leave her. A sense of abandonment quickly over ridded her momentary anger. She was too late from retracting her statement, too late to beg him to stay.

 

He had already disappeared through the green portal.

 

“I-I’m sorry,” she moaned as a tear escaped the barricades of her self-control, “Grandpa Rick, please don’t leave me.” Whimpers filled the air and she attempted to hold the sobs threatening to overcome her.

 

She had chased him away, by being her.

 

Or maybe not.

 

            The green portal opened once more as her grandfather stepped forth holding a gun like syringe that he placed in her leg, injecting the fluid into her blood stream.

 

Something miraculous happened.

 

Her legs were healed, good as new, better even.

 

“Wow, Rick.” She pretended to wipe a bead of sweat from her head, when in reality it was the rouge tear. “That stud just healed my broken legs instantly. I mean,” she stood up and started hopping from foot to foot, “I’ve never felt so good in my life.”

 

She stopped to look at him.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Don’t worry about it, Morticia. Just come help me get these seeds, all right buddy?” Her grandfather brushed her off walking towards the tree, unfazed by the whole scene that had just transpired.

 

She smiled gratefully.

 

“Sure thing, Rick.” She turned on her shoes and started to scale the tree tossing a fruit down to her grandfather.

 

“Not that you asked, Morticia, but what just happened there is I went into a future dimension with such advanced medicine that they had broken leg serum at every corner drugstore. The stuff was all over the place.

 

“Wow that’s crazy, Rick.” The brown-haired girl slid down the tree turning to face her grandfather.

 

“There’s just one problem, Morticia, one little hang up. The dimension I visited was so advanced, they had also halted the aging process. Everyone there was young, Morticia. They had been forever. I was the only old person there, Morticia.” Her grandfather easily split the fruit with his bare hands. “It was [burps] like I was some kind… some sort of, you know, a celebrity, walking around.”

 

Morticia didn’t like where this was going, didn’t really want to hear the end of the story, only the point.

 

“I-I was fascinating to them. There were a lot of attractive women there, Morticia.” He grabbed her shoulders while still holding on to the split fruit, its seed digging into her shirt. “They… they all wanted time with me.” He pulled away and rubbed his hand hands together before throwing the fruit down. “I had a lot of fun with a lot of young ladies, but I spent so much time there, my interdimensional portal device… it’s got no charge left, Morticia.”

 

Oh. Oh crap.

 

“It’s as good as garbage, Morticia.” She saw the tall blue haired male throw his head back and shove his hands over his face.

 

How were they going to get back home?!

 

“Oh, geez, Rick, t-that’s not good. What are we… what are wo going to do?!” She slammed her hands on her forehead. Oh, they were so dead, they couldn’t survive out here.

 

But of course, Rick had a plan B, and a favor.

 

====== 

 

Jerry walked slightly in front of his wife as they followed the Principal.

 

“The fact is, your daughter, Morticia, has attended this school for a total of seven hours over the last two months.” 

 

Jerry knew exactly what was happening.

 

“What?” His wife’s voice was strained. “Why didn’t you notify us?” Oh, he was so about to get justified. Their daughter wasn’t the type to cut classes, at least not the type who managed to pull it off. She would likely cry for fear of doing something like that. Jerry knew only one person who was able to convince his youngest to do practically anything.

 

Principal Vagina’s answer confirmed his suspicions.

 

“I done been notifying you. Have you not been getting the messages I’ve been leaving with Morticia’s grandfather?” the balding man’s voice bounced around in his skull along with his wife’s earlier statement. 

 

_Who knows what he’ll take with him when he leaves._

 

            Jerry didn’t know, and he didn’t want to find out either. So he would remove the problem before it could even arise, Beth would forgive him later.

 

“Boom! Told you! In your face! He is ruining our child!” Jerry paused, he had to be careful, had to play his cards right. “Wait, what am I celebrating?”

 

They passed an adjacent hallway, wherein his wife saw their eldest daughter grieving.

 

“Summer?” Her voice was laced with concern for her eldest child as she questioned life falling before a white wooden cross in the middle of the hallway. Near her youngest daughter’s locker.

 

“We had a little incident,” the balding man explained, “a student was frozen to death.” Jerry and Beth shared a look both knowing who had done this. Neither voicing it though. “And there’s no evidence that a Latino person did it!” The principal shouted this part.

 

“Everyone wants to take this to a racial place, I won’t let them.”

 

====== 

 

Morticia ignored the recorded voice as she walked out of the girls’ restroom.

 

            This was so uncomfortable, she had two seeds shoved up her rectum because it was _her_ fault the portal gun had run out of charge, and her grandfather had done this _too many_ times. Which opened more questions than it gave answers, but this was her grandfather so whatever.

 

“I don’t like it here, Morticia. I can’t abide bureaucracy. I don’t like being told where to go and what to do. I consider it a violation.” Morticia rolled her eyes, she had been able to gather that much. “Did you get those seeds all the way up your butt?”

 

Her eyes darted uncomfortably.

 

“Yeah, Rick.” He may not be as drunk as last night but he definitely had a buzz going on because he was spewing this aloud.

 

It was no wonder they got caught before they even made it through security.

 

            She was faster than her grandfather, or perhaps he was letting her have the lead as they made their way through the interdimensional portal equivalent of an airport. So much stuff that was going to screw with her head.

 

Like how she had shot living creatures to cover her grandfather.

 

They were in the school as he dragged her through the portal.

 

====== 

 

“Hey, look honey, it’s our daughter. With Albert Ein-douche.”

 

Rick rolled his eyes, his daughter’s idiot.

 

            He had to tolerate him, for Beth. That did not mean the blue haired scientist liked the man. In fact, he hated the imbecile who had the audacity to rope his baby girl in to marriage with teen pregnancy. He wanted to rip Jerry apart, clone him, and dot it all over again. But he couldn’t.

 

Because Beth would never forgive him.

 

          Not to mention, moving to a new dimension was a bitch-and-a-half. It was always a possibility, if life got to out of hand. But this was _his_ home, _his_ original dimension, _his_ original daughter, _his_ grandkids.

 

He wouldn’t give them up so easily.

 

“What?” his daughter was unamused by her idiot’s statement. Jerry was smart enough to look slightly abashed.

 

“I’m an angry father, not an improviser.”

 

But he was, and he was going to try and twist that to his advantage.

 

“Oh, hi, Jerry.” He looked over at Morticia. “Oh, my goodness, Morticia!” Raising his hands to either side of his face he feigned shock. “W-what are you doing out of class” He watched as the tips of her ears went a deep red and she adopted a look of a confused child, though it wasn’t that she adopted it but she was actually really confused.

 

“W-we talked about this. Y-your… your parents and I are very disappointed in… in this behavior.” He was going to say you, but that wasn’t right. Sure, he got agitated with her at times but it was rare that he was disappointed in her.

 

Mostly because the bar was set so low.

 

            His entire family had become, for a lack of better word, _settlers._ That was disturbing and Rick took it into account whenever he interacted with them.

 

“No?” He looked around. “No takers?”

 

The car ride home was tense.

 

====== 

 

“You guys should really not be touching that stuff.”

 

            Morticia shifted uncomfortably transferring her weight between her legs as she watched people packing away her grandfather’s things and putting them in to a moving truck. Something was wrong, because it felt like the seeds were getting smaller.

 

“It’s beyond yond your reasoning.” Her grandfather was playing it cool as he talked to her father.

 

“You’re beyond our reasoning.” Jerry growled angrily pointing a finger at her grandfather veins somewhat present near the corners of his eyes. Geez, her dad was enraged.

 

“Takes one to know one.” While his voice wasn’t shouting, Morticia could hear the annoyance laced in her grandfather’s childish remark.

 

“Dad,” Morticia turned to look at her mother who seemed distraught, “how could you make my daughter miss an entire semester of school?” Oh, so that’s what day it was. Since Rick had come in to their lives the days kind of merged together. “I mean it’s not like she’s a slutty girl. She can’t just bail on her life and set up shop in someone’s else’s.” Morticia saw her mother eye her and she knew she was right, the youngest Smith child had morals and anxiety it would not work out.

 

“What… what are you guys doing with my stuff?” Her grandfather asked ignoring the vicious glare her father sent his way as the only blonde in the house told him that they were moving him to a nursing home. He automatically rebutted the claim.

 

Her father was not having it. Morticia turned her attention back to her feet.

 

“Well, now you can build baskets and watch Paul Newman movies on VHS and mentally scar the Boy Scouts every Christmas.” At the raised eyebrows Jerry mumbled. “It’s personal.”

 

“Dad, Mom, c-come on. Rick just needed my help is all.” This was all her fault, at least it felt like it.

 

“Morticia,” her father rubbed at his temples, “stay out of this. You are obviously not capable of judging these situations on your own.” Her father sounded tired

 

“What are you trying to say about Morticia? That she’s stupid or something?” Her grandfather questioned.

 

“Oh, don’t high road us, Dad. You know fully well that Morticia is the last child that needs to be missing classes.” This caught the brown-haired girl’s attention.

 

“I-I-I don’t know what you mean by that.” Her grandfather was baiting them, the question was why? “Can… can you be a little more specific?”

 

“Oh, for crying out loud,” her father brought his hands to his head. His next words shattered her heart, “she’s got some kind of disability or something. Is that what you want us to say.”

 

“I do?”

 

====== 

 

Beth wanted to punch everyone in the garage at that moment, excluding Morticia.

 

“Well, duh doy, sweetie.” The look on her daughter’s face hurt Beth. She could see lingering demons of inadequacy mirrored back at her. Her husband had just told their daughter she would never be normal, she would be that unlucky kind of special for the rest of her life.

 

Not that it was completely his fault, her father had riled them up.

 

“Look, Morticia sweetheart, I love you. But we both know you’re not as fast as the other kids, and if you want to compete in this world you’re going to have to work twice as hard.” Beth watched as her daughter shrugged off her father’s hands and started rubbing on of hers over her upper arm.

 

“Aw, geez, Dad. Y-you know, that’s a lot to drop on a kid all at once.”

 

“Morticia, tell your parents the square root of Pi.” Morticia turned to her grandfather whose stood with his hands on his hips, and a demanding look in his eyes.

 

“One point seven, seven, two, four, five, three, eight, five.” Morticia’s body had gone rigid and her eyes had drifted apart as she answered. 

 

“What the hell?” Beth voice as Jerry looked up the root, and she was right.

 

Her father asked another question, and again Morticia answered.

 

“I told the both of you, school is stupid. It’s not how you learn things. Morticia’s a gifted child.” Beth realized her father was buzzed as he pulled his hand over her daughter hair a couple times before gripping her forehead. “She has a special mind. That’s why she’s my little helper. She’s like me, she’s going to be doing great things… great science stuff latter in her life. She’s to smart for school.”

 

Beth looked into her father’s eyes.

 

“S-she needs to keep hanging out and [burps] helping me.”

 

            Beth knew exactly what he would be taking with him if he were forced to leave and it made her go pale. She couldn’t let this happen.

 

“Jerry, I don’t want whatever’s happening here to stop.” Jerry seemed to get the emotions conveyed in her eyes because a subtle look of understanding clouded his eyes.

 

“No. I-I understand. Maybe we over reacted. But she still has to keep going to school.” He had to at least get some contingency plan in.

 

“Okay, Jerry. You drive a hard bargain, but what [burps] am I supposed to do? Say… [burps] say no?” Her father swayed a little. “You really wear the pants around here. I just want you to know, between us, from now on, it’s going to be a hundred percent honesty and open, clear communication.”

 

“Frank Palicky was frozen to death today.”

 

Beth watched as her father didn’t even flinch.

 

“No idea what you are talking about.” Was his level reply to the sobbing red head.

 

With that she and Jerry left the garage.

 

====== 

 

“Holy cow, Rick! I didn’t know hanging out with you was making me smarter.”

 

Rick couldn’t take the look of wonder and admiration from her, not when it was born of a lie.

 

“Full disclosure, Morticia… it’s not.” He raised his hands watching as her admiration melted back in to her normal look of confusion and worry. It was better this way, he was not a hero. Not exactly a villain either. “Temporary superintelligence is just a side effect of the mega seeds dissolving in your rectal cavity.”

 

“Aw, man.” He watched her deflate a little

 

He had to slip into the role of uncaring jerk as he delivered the next bit of news.

 

“Yeah, and once the seed [burps] wear off, you’re going to lose most of your motor skills and you’re also going to lose a significant amount of brain functionality for seventy- two hours, Morticia. Starting right [burps] right about now.” At this his granddaughter collapsed to the floor twitching and drooling.

 

He allowed rudeness to lace his next words, he was Rick Sanchez. He didn’t care about anyone.

 

“It’s a bummer, Morticia. In reality, you’re as dumb as they dumb as they come.” He leaned over her angrily. “And I needed those seeds real bad and I had to give them up just to get your parents off my back. So now we’re going to have to go get more. And then we’re going to go on even more adventures after that. And you’re going to keep your mouth shut about it, Morticia.”

 

He stepped back slightly to watch his brown-haired granddaughter wither on the floor.

 

“Because the world is full of idiots that don’t understand what’s important, and they’ll tear us apart, Morticia.” He smiled in a manner that was not gentle or comforting, more of conniving, “But if you stick with me, I’m going to accomplish great things, Morticia, and you’re going to be part of them, and together, we’re going to run around, Morticia. We’re going to do all kinds of wonderful things, Morticia. Just you and me, Morticia. The outside world is our enemy, Morticia. We’re the only [burps] friends we’ve got, Morticia.”

 

His next words were a promise.

 

“It’s just Rick and Morticia… [burps] Rick and Morticia and their adventure, Morticia. Rick and Morticia forever. Forever, and forever a hundred years, Rick and Morticia’s things. Me and Rick and Morticia running around, and Rick and Morticia time. All day long, forever.” The overhead light was flickering as he stood over his twitching granddaughter. 

 

“All… a hundred days. Rick and Morticia forever… a hundred times. Over and over.”

 

The garage door closed.

 


	2. S1E02: Lawnmower Dog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter is bad? Sorry-not-sorry?

Today had been going normal for the most part.

 

            Morticia was glad it was after dinner on Wednesday for various reasons. The most prominent reason, however, was because she could work on her homework at the kitchen table while the gentle buzz of the television caressed her ears in a relaxing sound.

 

Not that working on homework this wat was very productive.

 

            It was weird when the white noise of the television became non-existent, not that Morticia questioned it, her father was probably getting up to use the restroom and had paused the golf game that was streaming. It did cause her hands to shake nervously in fear that something was wrong, making her attempt to do homework even less effective than if she had gone outside during a kindergarten dodgeball tournament to complete the simple assignment.

 

It also didn’t help that the homework was Math.

 

            Math was a subject that evaded Morticia’s grasp. She could do it if she allowed her body and mind to relax, but with how stressed she constantly was for one reason or another, answers seemed to avoid her like the kids at her school.

 

That was a bad, but honest, metaphor.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Her father’s voice carried and her joints locked up as her body shot up.

 

            She barely caught the end of Summer’s casual ‘ _Oh, my God’,_ and was glad Rick wasn’t around to hear the phrase. Her grandfather really seemed to despise the idea of deity’s and life after death, possibly because it denied science. It did not stop the members of the Smith family from using modern phrases or the like.

 

“W-what’s wrong?” She allowed the question to slip from her mouth before she turned to assess the situation. Seeing the puddle of pee beneath Snuffles’ feet sent a shiver of knowing through her veins.

 

“Your idiot dog!” Her father’s scream caused her to flinch slightly as he waved his hand to motion at the white fur ball who probably meant no harm.

 

“Oh, he… he didn’t mean it, Dad.” She steeled herself squeezing her hands in to fists so hard she could feel her fingernails leaving behind imprints of their presence. She wasn’t angry, not in the least, but she had read that focusing on something could allow you to focus.

 

In this case momentary pain far outweighed a potential panic attack.

 

            She bent down and curled her arms gently around the family dog, stroking the area under his ear as she continued talking with her dad, but focusing her attention on the dog.

 

“D-did you, Snuffles?” the strokes through his fur were just as much to comfort her as to reassure Snuffles himself. The dog had closed its eyes and leaned into the brown-haired girl, basking in the attention he didn’t normally get from the technology consumed family. “You’re a good boy.” The youngest Smith girl praised.

 

The dog was more Morticia’s than the family’s.

 

            She feed and watered him, taking him on walks, and cleaning up after him in the yard once a month. Her mother was the one who occasionally took the poor dog to the groomer when his hair got so long that he couldn’t see two inches in front of him, which usually caused him to crash into walls and various articles of furniture.

 

She completely missed her dad’s look of rage.

 

“Don’t praise him now, Morticia. He just peed on the carpet!” Seeing his curled-up hand had her eyes widen immediately, was he going to hit Snuffles? Her father grabbed the dog by the scruff of his neck and forced the animals head down in to the urine, rubbing the dogs nose in his accident.

 

Morticia felt her body lean back on reflex.

 

            Which allowed her grandfather to grab her upper arm and pull her off the ground with a gentleness she must have imagined.

 

“Morticia, come one. I need your help tonight.” Rick’s statement had her eyes shooting towards the gentle curve of the archway that lead to the kitchen, where her homework sat half done.

 

“Hey, wait, hold on a second, Rick.” Her father’s voice was not as angry as before, but that didn’t relieve the tension between her shoulder blades at all. “You wouldn’t by aby chance have some sort of crazy science thing you could whip up that might help make this dog a little smarter, would you?” 

 

Morticia was a little taken aback by the pleasant tone in her father’s voice. When it came to her grandfather he was usually more irritable and would sooner demand things than ask politely.

 

“I thought the whole point of having a dog was to feel superior, Jerry.” Rick was not buying the little act her father was providing, not that Morticia had ever really expected him to. “If I were you, I wouldn’t pull that thread.” The blue haired male took hold of her arm once more before beckoning her towards adventure.

 

Only to have her father grab her other arm and pull back harshly, causing Morticia to let out a soft gasp. Morticia could feel Summer’s eyes on her back, though that was highly unlikely as her sister rarely removed her eyes from her phone.

 

“Listen, Rick, if you’re going to stay here rent-free and use my daughter for your stupid science,” the girl was getting a bit dizzy from what she could only assume was the gentle rocking motion of her grandfather and father fighting over dominance concerning her position in the room, “the least you could do is put a little bit of it to use for the family.” 

 

Morticia turned to look at her grandfather pleadingly.

 

“You make that dog smart or… Morticia’s grounded.” Said girl was paying attention to Snuffles who was doing what any dog would do, liking the area where his testicles used to reside before they were surgically removed to keep him from reproducing.

 

“Ha-ha!” Summer laughed lightly in the background as she tapped away at her phone.

 

“Aw, geez.” Morticia frowned. While being grounded had its advantages, she might be able to complete some of the homework and schoolwork that had been collecting dust in the corner of her room since her grandfather arrived, the fact that said grounding had nothing to do with anything she did was rather disconcerting. The realization of this caused her shoulders to shag.

 

Whelp, freedom would be returned in about a month or so, less if Morticia brought her mom in on this.

 

She was surprised at what happened next.

 

“Boy, you really got me up against a wall this time, Jerry.” Her grandfather released his hold on her, followed in quick succession by her father withdrawing his own hand. She watched as the blue haired scientist mad his way through the house and to his workshop, the garage. The sounds of bells, metal against metal, and screw drivers permeated the air for less than three minutes before her grandfather returned.

 

With him came a strange helmet.

 

“All right, Ruffles.” The blue haired man stated in a tone of mild displeasure. “What’s his name?” He was looking directly at Morticia avoiding eye contact with the brown-haired male stationed slightly behind her.

 

“Snuffles.” Her voice was squeaky and resigned. Even Grandpa Rick didn’t care about the dog

 

“Snuffles, shake.” His command had the helmeted dog shaking his hand gently as Rick himself frowned. “Roll over.” Summer had a look of astonishment on her face as she lay on her stomach, splayed out on the faded blue couch. “Go to the bathroom.”

 

            Morticia’s brown eyes tracked the dog as it waddled through the kitchen towards the half bath located in the area. She listened to the noises of amazement her older sister and father made at the fluffy dog’s sudden leap to understanding.

 

“Yeah, you’re at the top of your game now, Jerry.” Rick swept his hand before him as a gesture towards the dog. “Have fun.” He walked away grabbing the shortest Smith and dragging her out of the living room.

 

Morticia was too stupefied to take much notice of the cold gray fingers clasped around her arm.

 

====== 

 

The brown-eyed girl had managed to find her words once more.

 

“Wow, that was fantastic, Rick!” She allowed wonderment and awe to seep in to her voice as she praised the invention her maternal grandfather had invented on the fly.

 

Even if it did make her nervous.

 

“Yeah, Morticia, if you like that, boy, you’re… you’re really going to flip your lid over this one.” She knew her praise meant nothing to him, and it showed in his voice. Even as he moved the little magnifying glass to pull up a bigger image of the invention he was talking about.

 

“W-w-w-what is it?” It was so small, and Morticia couldn’t help but stammer out her question.

 

“It’s a device, Morticia,” the girl wanted to do what any teenager would do at that moment and roll her eyes, but she was too fixated on watching her Grandpa Rick pull it out of its protective pedestal and motion towards his ear. “That when you put it in your ear, you can enter people’s dreams, Morticia.”

 

He placed the device in a white case lined with black foam.

 

“It’s kind of like that movie you keep crowing about.” The blue haired male did not withhold his disgust at her fawning over the movie, or perhaps he just hated the movie _that_ much.

 

“You talking about ‘Inception’?” She questioned watching her grandfather.

 

“That’s right, Morticia,” her grandfather affirmed. “This is going to be a lot like that, except, you know, it’s going to [burps] maybe make some sense.”

 

Morticia felt her eyes narrow as her mouth took on a pout.

 

“‘Inception’ made sense.” At least to her it did.

 

“You don’t have to try and impress me, Morticia.” Was her grandfather’s way to steer the conversation into another direction, clearly not believing her. “Listen,” he bent at the knee to clasp his hands over her shoulders, “tonight we’re going to go into the home of your math teacher,” this was not going to end well. She knew that much from just that small portion of his statement, “Mr. Goldenfold, and we’re g… we’re going to incept the idea in his brain to give you A’s in math, Morticia.”

 

He started walking towards the, car? (UFO?)

 

“That way y-you can… y-you’re going to help me with my science, Morticia, all the time.”

 

Couldn’t he just help her with the assignment?

 

            Then again, she knew exactly how her grandfather viewed school, and perhaps helping with an institution he loathed would be contradictory in his mind. 

 

Or maybe he just didn’t want to help with simple math, the snob.

 

            It was widely known that once you reached much more complicated math classes that you became, well you started to make simple mistakes. ‘Your brain gets so used to thinking about things like the sun that it overlooked simple shit like the grass.’ At least that’s what she heard and honors student say in the girls’ restroom while comforting her crying friend.

 

Wasn’t math a necessity for science anyway?

 

            Morticia followed him, finger pulling gently through a thick section of hair that had become tangled throughout the entirety of the day. She relished in the way her fingers would get stuck in the knot, again and again, until it came undone.

 

She decided to voice her thoughts.

 

“Geez, Rick, in the time it took you to make this thing, couldn’t you have just, you know, helped me with my homework?” Her grandfather placed his hands on the front of the vehicle after taking a swig of his alcohol, looking her straight in the eyes.

 

“Are you listening to me, Morticia?” His voice was serious. “Homework is stupid. The whole point is to get less of it.” He slid expertly into the vehicle. “J-j… come on let… j… let’s just get over there and deal with this thing.” A beer bottle broke on the ground. “W-we’re going to incept your teacher.

 

She was buckling her seatbelt.

 

“Y-y-you’re frustrating me.” This statement caused her mouth to clamp shut, afraid to irk the man any further.

 

The vehicle rolled out of the garage.

 

====== 

 

Rick’s only comfort in the middle age math teacher was his television show preferences.

 

            The drawl of Mrs. Pancakes was soothing, even if he was a full season behind. He turned his head to take in the view of his youngest granddaughter. She was fidgeting with her fingers and shifting her weight, a normal sign of her so called _moralities_ dogging her.

 

The aged scientist would admit that his own morals were rather nonexistent.

 

            He had seen so much, done so much, in his life time that he had come to the abrupt realization that there truly was no right and wrong, only those who wished to feel superior by hiding behind such labels.

 

Which was why braking into a house held no real merit to him.

 

“Next week on ‘The Days and Nights of Mrs. Pancakes…” was the drone that filled the air as he expertly lifted the window, the man on the couch unflinching.

 

Looking around the blue haired male came to a conclusion.

 

            This man was even more of a slob than him, and that was no easy feat. Rick wouldn’t deny that he often left quite the mess in his wake, after all he had just sat in a vehicle littered with his own empty beer cans and alcohol bottles. But even he could admit a certain level of hygiene. Looking around at the musty apartment he could tell the same was not true about Mr. Goldenfold.

 

The man had fallen asleep with a bowl of Wheat Thins on his upper abdomen for fucks sake.

 

“Uh-oh, spoilers.” He quickly turned off the television set after semi-helping his granddaughter through the window. He watched from the corner of his eye as the brown-haired girl peeled herself off the carpet, face pulled into a look of disgust. “I’m a full season behind.

 

“Wow, Rick, I can’t believe we’re sitting around, standing around in Mr. Goldenfold’s house.” Through her mildly anxious tone he realized she hadn’t said home, that even his stupid granddaughter didn’t think this place was inhabitable.

 

Which wasn’t all that strange.

 

            His youngest granddaughter was a cleanly person, who room was abnormally neat for someone failing so badly at life as she was. Whenever she saw even the slightest thing misplaced she would apologize profusely before setting about fixing it.

 

Don’t get him started on the food.

 

            It was mostly imperishable hidden in little nooks and crannies that the untrained eye would overlook. It wasn’t like she didn’t get fed or that she liked snacks he had noted, but more likely or not some irrational teenage puberty bull shit that he refused to touch.

 

“It’s really weird,” her admission did not shock him as he placed the probe into her teacher’s exposed ear. He could hear her mentally talking herself out of this and just really didn’t have the patience to deal with that.

 

“It’s about to get a whole lot weirder, Morticia.” He gently pushed another probe through her ear turning it in and watching as her body hit the floor, one leg under her body and the other stretched out. Her hands were by her head on either side.

 

He placed another probe into his own ear.

 

            Walking past his granddaughter he sat in an uncomfortable chair that seemed to be a hybrid between a beanbag and school chair, representing both chair’s faults to the most. Shifting he allowed himself to get comfortable before turning his own probe on.

 

And then he was fading from reality, into the dreams of a math teacher.

 

====== 

 

Morticia quickly realized they were in an airplane.

 

            She felt her face scrunch up in remembrance of the first adventure to get her grandfather Mega Seeds, memories of Portal equivalents of air ports plaguing her waking day dreams.

 

Pulling her body to look down the aisle she had to hold herself back from gasping aloud.

 

Walking through the narrow aisle was an African American woman calling out “Wheat Thins” as she sauntered past seats.

 

“I’ll take two.” The somewhat nasally voice of her math teacher replied.

 

“Oh, I think you’ve had enough, sir.” The woman jutted out her hip as she replied to her teacher’s comment. 

 

“You don’t know me,” was his reply as he leaned forward, smirk adorning his lips. The pair broke out into giggles and Morticia felt herself become uncomfortable. So what if this was a fabricated image of what her teacher wanted to happen in his waking moments, it felt like she was spying.

 

“All right, Morticia.” Her grandfather pulled her from her subconscious. She turned to see him take a couple of two liters from an abandoned cart next to them along with the scarf of a woman in front of their seats. “Time to make our move.

 

When she saw what he was doing she blanched.

 

            This was, in a way, recreating nine eleven (9/11). By the way he was duct tapping the bottles and connecting random wires to the top she could already see the scenario he was coming up with. As she wrapped the scarf around her head she realized why her grandfather was doing this.

 

Because it was something everybody dreamed of at least once since the twin towers fell.

 

            Being aboard a plane, incapable of anything, as terrorist took control. The subconscious reminding the sleeping mind how powerless humanity is, as well as how cruel people could be.

 

“Allah [burps] Akbar!” The blue haired scientist shouted peeling himself from the seat, Morticia unable to do anything less but follow, as he pulled open his lab coat showing the make shift bomb.

 

“We’re going to take control of this plane!” Her grandfather declared, “We’re going to 9/11 it unless Morticia Smith gets better grades in math!” The brown-eyed girl watched as her teacher pulled himself from his seat to glare at her crazy grandfather.

 

“Hey, I said nobody move, buddy!” The agitation was clear in his voice and Morticia knew he did not want to be here any longer than necessary.

 

“The names not buddy,” _crap_ he was an active dreamer, “It’s Goldenfold.” The dramatic music playing in the background had Morticia blinking furiously, this did not bode well. “Nice to Wheat you!” With that statement, he was throwing the confections at the duo.

 

She was bleeding.

 

            Her body seized slightly as Rick pulled her behind a set of chairs. She was bleeding, her skin was allowing blood to leak through, oh geez. Oh, geez.

 

The resounding gunshots did not help ease her disarrayed state of mind.

 

“Goldenfold’s got more control here than I anticipated.” Her grandfather conceded. “I mean the guy teaches high-school math. I-I [burps] I didn’t take him for an active dreamer.” Morticia flinched as a golden bullet barely missed her cheek. 

 

“We got to take him out so he wakes up, Morticia. But we can’t get killed,” he waved a finger at her to emphasize his point, “If you get killed in someone else’s dream, you die for real, Morticia.”

 

“What?!” She screeched voice cracking in fear. “A-are you k-kidding me?” She hugged her knees in dismay body giving little vibrations as fear racked her body in time with each bullet released.

 

“Don’t be a baby!” Was the demand her grandfather released, face trained in a scowl as he looked at her. “You avoid getting shot in real life all the time, Morticia.” She was gripping at her head, finger grazing the soft fabric of the scarf, “just do the same thing here and we’ll be fine.”

 

====== 

 

Summer could feel her skin crawl.

 

            Okay so, like, it was totally cool that Snuffles was smart now but this didn’t sit right with her exactly. Not that she was going to say anything about it, because it meant her father wouldn’t yell at Morticia next time the dog had an accident, which was nice.

 

Her mother stood in the space between the couch and sofa, arms crossed.

 

“Now bring me my slippers.” The brown-haired male demanded as Summer took out her phone, best to have evidence before shit hit the fan once more and everyone wanted to forget the epidemic.

 

She was going to get so many likes and retweets. 

 

            The dog picked up a pair of white house shoes trotting over to give them to the red-heads father. Summer had to admit it was pretty freaking adorable.

 

She wondered how far Snuffles’ obedience would stretch.

 

“Now, be my footstool, Snuffles.” She said with amusement in her voice, never once taking her eyes off of her phone.

 

“This is what I’m talking about,” her father was looking at her mother as he pointed to the subservient dog, “this is a dog.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” the sarcasm in her mom’s voice was palpable. “This should play out just fine.” Summer set her phone down, happy she wasn’t the only one getting bad vibes from this, grateful that her mom was able to voice the shared opinion in a way Summer felt herself incapable of.

 

Maybe Grandpa Rick had a point about that thread.

 

“You said the same thing, equally sarcastically, at our wedding.” Her father had sat up as he baited her mother. “And guess what.” He held his hands out to motion to the house.

 

Her mother just walked away, and Summer was glad she hadn’t recorded that bit.

 

            The dog started moaning as her father slouched down at the realization that her mother had chosen to be the bigger person. Both Smith family members tried to guess what he was saying through the howls, and Summer hit record. Though she knew they were both really off, it didn’t matter. 

 

All that mattered was the momentary boost in popularity she would receive.

 

====== 

 

After all the occupants had left the living-room Snuffles went to the sliding door.

 

            He was only able to glance back at his sad reflection before the device on his head caught his attention. More specifically the compartment on the front. Using his paws he opened it, only to realize a battery was missing.

 

Of course, the blue haired human would be so cruel.

 

            Snuffles had come to expect strange acts of drunkenness from the blonde woman’s father, as well as his crueler jokes. Giving the dog a larger IQ, but leaving him at a huge disadvantage when it came to communicating was something the man would do.

 

Moving softly to the kitchen the white fur ball went to find batteries.

 

====== 

 

People were hiding behind seats as Goldenfold shot his guns frantically.

 

“Goldenfold,” her grandfather stated nodding his head to her before emerging from behind a seat, “we’re coming out! We just want to talk.” Her grandfather was using his version of a soothing voice.

 

Goldenfold wasn’t buying it.

 

“Why would I negotiate with you?!” Anger seeped through his voice, more tangible than she had ever heard from him.

 

“Because we’re both rational adults that don’t want anything bad to happen.” Her grandfather slid out fully from behind the seat, dragging Mrs. Pancakes with him. “And because I have a human shield.”

 

“Mrs. Pancakes!” A look of horror overtook the middle-aged math teachers face.

 

Everyone began screaming and running around in a frenzy.

 

“Oh no, Morticia, his subconscious is panicking.” The brown-eyed teen was about to ask what that meant when another passenger kicked out the door.

 

            Morticia found herself loosing grip, first on the flimsy metal armrest of a seat and then the smooth fabric of her grandfather’s pants. All she could register was the feeling of falling as her stomach pitched forward uncomfortably.

 

A slap brought her out of her screaming.

 

“Relax, Morticia.” Her grandfather tilted her head as he pointed to another falling body. “Look. Mrs. Pancakes has a parachute. Come one.” In an instant, they had moved to where they were hugging onto the fabricated actress.

 

“Oh no, Rick, look!” Morticia cringed out the screechiness that accompanied her frantic explanation. Both turned their attention to the horror below. “Goldenfold landed the plane, and he’s created a mechanical arm to pluck Mrs. Pancakes out of the air while he lets us fall into a giant vat of lava!”

 

Her grandfather inclined his head to look at her, eyebrow furrowed.

 

“Pretty concise, Morticia. Looks like we’ve merely prolonged the inevitable.” Morticia felt herself pale, her grandfather sounded resigned to their immanent deaths.

 

Until he didn’t.

 

“That’s it, Morticia! Prolonging the inevitable! Listen, if we go into Mrs. Pancakes dream everything will go one hundred times slower, Morticia. That’ll buy us some time to figure this out!” Her grandfather knocked the woman out and inserted the devices in their ears pulling them into Mrs. Pancakes dream.

 

====== 

 

They landed in some sort of, sex dungeon.

 

“Oh man, Rick, this is pretty weird.” Morticia shifted uncomfortably trying to avoid making eye contact with any one.

 

“Don’t judge, Morticia.” Was her grandfather’s response. Sadly, Morticia was judging, because this was another level of her math teacher’s subconscious. He wanted to be dominated, which was more than the fourteen year old wanted to know about anybody, much less her math teacher.

 

“Okay, alright. Well… Look, Mrs. Pancakes is right over there.” She pulled herself up ignoring the fact that the woman was whipping some old, gnome thing? “I’ll just go ask her to tell Goldenfold not to kill us when she wakes up.”

 

The iron clad grasp on her arm had her flinching viciously.

 

“Whoa, whoa! Morticia, the trick to incepting is making people think they came up with the idea.” He quickly threw off his clothes as he continued on, “Listen to me. If we’re going to incept Mrs. Pancakes, we have to blend. I’ll talk to you after lunch.”

 

Morticia could only watch as her grandfather was dragged away by a group of gnomes. 

 

Seriously, what the fuck.

 

            Morticia dodged everyone as she made her way as far away from possible. Or rather she tried to. Her breath was picking up and she felt uncomfortable with the advances of the strange creatures within the dream.

 

Until she ran into a fabricated version of her sister.

 

“SUMMER?!” Her voice was a screech. The red-head image of her sister was making her uncomfortable. This was her sister standing before her, dressed in risqué lingerie. The pink bra an matching underwear were laced with black, much like the inverted color scheme of the knee high socks.

 

Was this what people thought of woman?!

 

            Morticia clutched her arms around her abdomen, trying to protect herself as it appeared that the mirage of her sister was checking her out.

 

Gross.

 

“Hey there, stranger.” Her sister was acting like a porn star with the way she was moving and talking, and it felt seventy-two kinds of wrong.

 

When she started rubbing her boobs together Morticia started screeching.

 

            And that’s how Rick found her, screeching on the floor covering her eyes as she backed away from the scantily clad dream version of her sister.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s the matter with you, Morticia. Calm down.” Her grandfather sounded both irked and placating in the same breath. Causing her to motion at Summer without even opening her eyes.

 

“Aw, geez.” Her grandfather stated. “Looks like Goldenfold has some predilections so shameful he buries them in the dreams of the people in his dreams. Including a pervy attraction to your underage sister.”

 

“Can you blame him?” The image of her sister was crawling towards the two as it shimmied its way up between the two, lacing an arm around both of their necks pulling them in. “Come on, old man, little girl. Let’s make an intergenerational sandwich.”

 

Both Rick and Morticia started letting lose sounds of disgust.

 

            This greatly displeased the people within the dream (possibly hinting at Goldenfold’s hatred for disapproval) and they ganged up on the two causing them to go further into the dream by knocking out a centaur.

 

====== 

 

The only illumination came from red lights.

 

            The centaur was sucking his thumb as he clung closely to the wall. Rick was impressed actually, not one of the most frightening places he had ever been to, but certainly not expected of a math teacher.

 

“What the hell?!” Morticia’s voice was airy, as though it was hard to breath. Knowing her predilection to confusion when it came to complex matters, Rick could only imagine the tiny hamster wheel in her head breaking free, leading her to stupidity on par with her dumb ass father.

 

“Why would Mr. Goldenfold’s dream version of Mrs. Pancakes… dream version of a centaur be dreaming about a scary place like this, Rick.

 

He honestly did not feel the need to entertain her stupidity at this point.

 

“I don’t know. Geez, Morty, wha-what do you want from me?” The old man crossed his arms a disinterested look plastering his face.

 

The knives on metal was what initially alerted the two to the person before them.

 

“Welcome to your nightmare, bitch!” The man looked like a Freddy Krueger rip off, and Rick could tell he struck just as much fear as the original into his youngest granddaughter’s heart. Rick watched as the dream image let out a low scream and rushed forward.

 

“Oh, here we go.” His voice was level, because honestly, he had faced worse. That didn’t stop him from turning on his heel and running right alongside the brown-haired teen.

 

“Oh! Holy crap!” The blue haired man heard his granddaughter moan as they ran through narrow halls.

 

“Looks like some legally safe knock-off of an 80’s horror character. With miniature swords for fingers instead of knives.” Rick felt the need to point out to his granddaughter it could be way worse.

 

“I’m Scary Terry.” The creature hissed swinging its hands in front of him. “You can run, but you can’t hide, bitch.”

 

======

 

Jerry had to admit he was a little disturbed.

 

            Snuffles had walked into the living-room with a robotic arm protruding from his helmet and collar. He hadn’t heard Rick and Morticia return from their shenanigans so he couldn’t see how the mechanical appendage came to exist.

 

The dog seemed cold as he walked forward.

 

“Whoa!” The brown-headed man let out a slight gasp of surprise. “Hey, buddy. What you got going on there?” He tried to keep his voice even in hopes of hiding his growing panic.

 

Only to tense at what happened next.

 

“Snuffles fix. Make better.” The voice was unnatural, like the type that comes from smokers who can no longer communicate verbally. It was intimidating, not that Jerry would ever admit that aloud. “Humans understand Snuffles now?” The way his head tilted sent an unknown emotion straight to Jerry’s heart.

 

Perhaps he was really excited with the new development?

 

“That. Is. Awesome!” Summer praised videoing the whole thing. Jerry tilted his head to his eldest child, he had a feeling she was mocking him deep down.

 

Nah, he was just being to self-conscious, right?

 

“Snuffles want to be understood. Snuffles need to be understood.” The way the hand claw moved had Jerry making a quick decision. He was already lower than Rick, no way in hell he would slip below the family dog.

 

“Okay,” Jerry admitted, “yeah. I get what Beth was talking about.” Sliding off of the chair he went to reach for the helmet. “Fun’s over.”

 

Only to be stopped by Summer.

 

“Woah, dad, you can’t, like, endow a creature with sentience and then rip it away!” She sounded like an animal rights activist at that moment and Jerry didn’t know whether to feel proud or disrespected.

 

“Why not?” The Smith patriarch didn’t care about the whiny quality of his voice in that moment, he just wanted an answer.

 

“I don’t know.” Summer responded. “It’s Indian giving.” She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear before going back to mess with her phone.

 

Jerry crossed his arms as Snuffles flipped to a documentary on the domestication of dogs.

 

======

 

Turning a corner, Morticia could feel the tightness in her chest growing.

 

            It was becoming harder to breath as fear came to the forefront of her mind. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if a voice was curling through the halls, humming a morbid tune about Scary Terry as they ran from said being.

 

She dodged around a pipe instead of over it when the nightmare figure appeared.

 

“We have to escape into someone else’s dream, Morticia!” Rick’s voice ricocheted around in her head and past the fog clouding her common sense.

 

“Oh man, oh man!” She screeched as a furnace transformed into Scary Terry causing the duo to take a sharp turn left in order to avoid the arching downwards strike of knife fingers.

 

“The little girl!” Rick smacked the small of her neck with the case as he inserted the Inception device and they dove a layer deeper.

 

Only, they didn’t escape the nightmare.

 

======

 

“Are you kidding me?” Rick hissed hands coming to rest on his hips. “This again? Man, it looks like we hit dream bedrock, Morticia.”

 

“Aw geez, Rick.” He looked at the girl fidgeting with her fingers out of the corner of his eyes. “W-w-whoa. This isn’t good.”

 

Rick went stock still as their pursuer appeared beside him, arms crossed.

 

“Nothing but fear from here on out, bitch.” His smug voice trailed behind them as Morticia let out a wail and they began running once more.

 

“Holy crap, Morticia! He can travel through dreams. He can travel through dreams! We are so screwed!” Rick felt the need to point this out, because fuck if he had actually encountered a dumb ass this twisted before.

 

======

 

Thunder crashed.

 

            Summer shifted in her bed, ignoring the lingering fear in the back of her subconscious. Yet she couldn’t ignore the feeling of being watched. Swiftly she opened her eyes and darted up. Seeing Snuffles decked out in full robotic body she knew she was screwed.

 

“Where are my testicles, Summer?” The robotic voice was just as disturbing as before and Summer felt twice as intimidated as she had when he had spoken for the first time in the living-room.

 

She pulled her knees up to her chest, curling in on herself.

 

“Where are my testicles, Summer.” Snuffles repeated tilting his head. “They were removed. Where have they gone.”

 

Oh shit, oh fucking shit.

 

“Oh, wow.” Her voice cracked and she licked her lips, suddenly aware of how chapped they were. “That’s an intense line of questioning, Snuffles.” She looked off to the side where her door was, estimating the chance of escaping before this could escalate any further.

 

“Do not call me that.” The anger leaking through the mechanical voice coupled with his mechanical fist caused the older Smith child to let lose a blood curdling scream. “Snuffles was my slave name. You shall now call me Snowball, because my fur is pretty and white.” The dog brought a white paw up to his belly to emphasize his meaning.

 

“Ok?” She said trying to hide behind her pink comforter, looking to her nightstand for a weapon. “Snowball, just calm down, okay? You’re scaring me.”

 

“Scaring you?” Was the mechanical response.

 

            She felt her body scoot back as the mechanical construct stood on her bed moving slowly towards her with each movement backwards.

 

“Tell me, Summer, if a human was born with stumpy legs, would they breed it with another deformed human?” Summer could hear the antagonism dripping from the dog’s voice. “Would they put their children on display like the dachshund?” His mechanical hands preformed a motion that often indicated a question.

 

Summer let out an incoherent noise.

 

            The red-haired teen jumped when her door burst open, revealing her parents. Both were surprised, and from their body stances Summer could tell they were frightened. Her mom attempted to get the three of them out of the situation.

 

Only for it to get worse.

 

======

 

Morticia ignored the caw off the crow as they entered an abandoned car.

 

“W-what are we here for again?” Her grandfather asked. “Incepting? We’re trying to incept-” Morticia cut him off. If he had just done the normal thing and _helped_ her with her homework neither of them would be in this situation.

 

“We’re trying to incept me to get an ‘A’ in math?” her voice was resigned as her grandfather started the car. Giving her a thumbs up when the engine started purring.

 

Only for both to peel out a second later.

 

“Buckle up, Bitch.” Scary Terry’s voice came from the backseat, causing her heart to start pumping blood a bit faster.

 

All she could hear was a pounding in her ears, most likely from her heart.

 

“You can run, but you can’t hide, bitch.” This statement seemed to strike a chord with Rick.

 

“Hold on, Morticia.” Her grandfather demanded as they ran down the street. “Y-you know what? He keeps **_saying_** we can run, but we can’t hide.” The girl felt her eyes widen as she understood what he was trying to say. “I say we try hiding.”

 

They stopped in front of a boarded-up window.

 

“That’s the opposite of w-” she started.

 

“Yeah, well, since when are we taking this guy’s advice on anything?” Her grandfather had a point and so she conceded to attempt hiding.

 

**SIX DREAM HOURS LATER**

 

The two looked past the boards as Scary Terry finally gave up on finding them.

 

            They followed him home to his family and saw him interact with his son and wife. Morticia had to hold back a gentle awe at the sweet exchange. Mentally she reminded herself that this was the same person who had been chasing them for a couple hours

 

They snuck into the house, where Scary Terry appeared to be having a nightmare.

 

“Oh, boy, Rick.” Morticia mumbled. “I can only imagine… what horrible things must, you know, scare Scary Terry.” Morticia voiced her fear as they delved into the dream killer’s nightmare.

 

Not that the scene surprised her.

 

            High-school was rough on the best of them, even with pants. Seeing someone so horrifying dealing with similar problems, well it caused her heart to swell. Knowing she was not alone.

 

Which was probably why she and Rick stood up for him when it came to what one would yell when chasing someone in a pumpkin patch.

 

And gave him a spare pair of pants.

 

======

 

Morticia closed her eyes as Scary Terry tore through the dreamers.

 

            It wasn’t that she was sad to see them go, in some morbid and twisted way she actually enjoyed seeing Mr. Goldenfold’s biggest fear tear through his sick fantasies and finally through him, but rather the fact that they went through each level so quickly.

 

Unlike when it was just her and her Grandpa Rick.

 

            She was glad when Mr. Goldenfold woke up, deciding to give her A’s. She fist bumped her grandfather before the crawled back to the ship to go home for a much deserved rest.

 

======

 

The armed guards were the first clue something was wrong.

 

            Even if they were dogs, they were fully decked out in mechanical limbs that looked as if they could destroy someone. This caused Morticia to tense in anticipation.

 

“What the hell?” Her voice was shrill as she twirled a strand of curly brown hair around her finger, eyes narrowed in confusion at the scene before her.

 

“Out of the frying pan dot, dot, dot, huh, Morticia?” The genius that was situated in the driver seat next to her stated with his brow narrowed in annoyance. Morticia watched as the older man brought his hand to rub the area above his nose in order to relieve his headache.

 

“Oh, man, what’s going on?” She questioned her grandfather, knowing it was futile since he had as much knowledge as she did on the matter before them.

 

“Well,” he stated leaning away from the steering wheel to look her in the eyes, “it’s possible that your dog became self-aware and made modifications on the cognition amplifier.” He rolled his hand with one finger extended as he continued with his theory on what the fuck was before them. “Then turned on Jerry, Beth, and Summer after learning about humanity’s cruel subjugation of his species.” He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, unaffected by what was going on below them. “But your guess is as good as mine, Morticia.”

 

The youngest Smith chewed on her bottom lip as her skin crawled.

 

======

 

Beth sat turned away from her husband, hands wrapped around her legs.

 

“I can’t believe how mean Snuffles got just because he’s smart.” The blonde woman heard her eldest daughter’s draw. “This is why I choose to get C’s.” Beth wanted to laugh, if the situation was different she might have been berating her eldest daughter on her lack of ambition. Summer was a smart young lady with a bright future.

 

As it was she felt no amusement at the current situation.

 

            Jerry, Summer, and herself had been brought outside and tethered to a pole their dog had ordered to be placed in the ground. She tried to ignore the bite of the leather collar on her jugular as she tried to plan an escape for her family.

 

Beth felt her head snap when she heard her father’s voice.

 

            She felt her shoulders relax when she saw her youngest next to her father, relieved that Snuffles hadn’t gotten his paws on her youngest daughter. Beth didn’t want to think about what that might have meant if the family dog had. Forcing back a shiver she smiled appreciatively as her father released them using an invention.

 

Beth walked behind her eldest and joined in the hugging of her youngest.

 

            They were all safe and sound. With her father there, she knew they would stay that way. She would not be separated from her children, never left to wonder if one of them was okay, because she knew deep down her father would protect them.

 

Sure, Rick Sanchez didn’t do love, but Beth knew he was the only one allowed to screw with his family.

 

            It was with that knowledge Beth allowed herself to relax. Standing behind her youngest daughter she trained her eyes on her father waiting for whatever he deemed them to do next.

 

“All right,” the blue haired man pulled out his flask and took a drink of it before looking at the family, “let’s get out of here. If we hurry we can set up camp in a sewer tunnel or something before the dogs completely take over.” Beth watched as her father turned his head to scan the yard.

 

Only to feel the tinniest bit of anger when her husband spoke up.

 

            She loved Jerry, faults and all, but hadn’t he already learned his lesson? Wasn’t being overthrown by dogs enough of a smack in the face to have him realize that sometimes her dad was just _right_ about shit like this?

 

Obviously not.

 

            She watched mortified as her husband walked towards the house and forced open the sliding glass doors. She paled when she saw Jerry unzipping his pants and taking a leak on the dogs’ weapons. Gripping Morticia closer she extended an arm for Summer. She spared her father a glance as he walked forward.

 

She stepped forward to block Morticia and felt proud when Summer followed suit.

 

            Her dad didn’t notice this occurrence, and if he did he refused to comment on it. As far as Beth could tell, however, he was more concerned with pointing out Jerry’s mistake.

 

“Bring the girl to me.”

 

Beth felt her body freeze and as the mechanically suited dogs stepped forward, Beth bit back a scream.

 

            It happened too fast for her to stop. The dogs had clamped their claws around her daughter, hefting her forward like she was some stuffed animal in the typical claw machine. Only difference was that the brown-eyed girl would not be slipping from their grasp before she was deposited before the crane’s controller.

 

She could see her daughter shaking, gentle curls of brown moving barely a centimeter as she was dragged forward.

 

“You were always kind to me, Morticia.” Beth wanted to focus on what the family’s pet was saying, but she was too focused on the claw still wrapped around her youngest daughter’s upper arm. “That’s why I will leave you with your ovaries. From now on you will be my best friend, and live by my side.”

 

“T-thanks Snuffles.” Beth noticed how shaky her youngest daughter’s voice was. “B-but… I c-can’t leave my family.” Beth was proud as her daughter squared her shoulders and brought her bowed head up to look Snuffles in the eye.

 

It was too bad the white dog wasn’t going to accept no as an answer.

 

            Beth bit back a growl as the dog holding her daughter injected her with something before dragging her forward to rest on the pillow by Snuffles side. She glared at her husband from the corner of her eye. She loved him, really, she did, but in that moment, she hated him. Hated the man who was being held face first in his own urine. This was all his fault.

 

“Begin Phase Two.” Snuffles voice left no room for argument.

 

======

 

_“Fighting continues as the dog army captures the eastern seaboard,” fighting was shown as armies went up against, and fell, to the dog army. “It appears clear at this time that the era of human superiority has come to an end.” With this statement dogs burst into the anchorwoman’s building and muzzled her._

_The statue of George Washington was brought down, and a vast amount of hamburger meat was placed into a dumpster. Images of a pack of muzzled humans chasing a hamburger appeared. A dog senate was shown in sessions, followed quickly by a game of dog poker._

_Months flew by._

======

 

Morticia was curled up on her bed, Snuffles resting on her lap as she gently stroked his fur.

 

            She was in her pajamas, a soft, oversized, blue V-neck that fell to her mid-thigh covering most of her faded grey sleep shorts. Her feet were slanted to one side as she hummed a soft tune, bringing her hand down Snuffles sweet spot. The most prominent difference was the lack of a faded scar on her left temple, usually hidden by thick brown waves, or curls depending on whether her hair had been brushed or not., along with the one on her throat.

 

It felt weird, not having them there.

 

            The brown-haired girl didn’t remember how she had gotten either scar, and the only explanation her family gave was that it was related to the same _incident_ that had robbed her of a good portion of her later memories. She knew enough, remembered enough, to know who her family was. Who she was, but not much more. After age eleven it was a huge blank. The doctor said it was most likely trauma from both the actual incident and the mental toll it took on her.

 

No one ever talked about it, she couldn’t even get Snuffles to let go of the information.

 

            Their current set up was kept secret, Morticia petting him was a sign of an evil, corrupt human having control on the dogs’ leader. Snuffle feared that this meant his government would destroy her in order to free him. He knew better than to think she would ever enslave him for she had always been just as much of a prisoner as him.

 

The brown-haired girl lifted him into his armor, scratching under his chin with a stressed smile.

 

            Morticia watched as Snuffle left to go to his meeting. Each step released some of the tension in her shoulders. She loved Snuffles, in a completely platonic familial way, but her love for her family was greater. She was happy that Snowflake was showing the same romantic feelings as Snuffles, but it only served as a reminder as to how wrong everything was.

 

Not that she didn’t want Snuffles to be happy.

 

            Morticia wanted Snuffles to have a life fit for a dog as amazing as he had always been, wanted him to grow up and have a family (even if he had to adopt), but at the same time she wanted to return to normality. Craved the soft hugs of her mother, harsh mummers from her sister, stupid speeches from her father.

 

She even missed her Grandpa Rick, even if he was a huge ass at times.

 

            The last few months of solitude had given her a lot of time to think. He grandfather was a stand-offish man, always ready to sacrifice others for the betterment of his life. At the same time, he had come into Morticia’s when she needed him most. Sure, he was mean and often times cruel, but he had distracted her from the memories and slowly broke down the shell she had become accustomed to hiding in.

 

He had forced her out of her comfort zone.

 

            She curled up, pressing her knees to her chest and biting back the tears and oncoming panic attack. Snuffles had made sure she hadn’t seen her family since the initial offer. It hurt, that he was willing to destroy her happiness in order to advance his own.

 

And then the door was kicked open.

 

======

 

Rick had been waiting for a good time to save his youngest granddaughter.

 

            Kicking open the door he took in how Morticia was curled in on herself, how dead her eyes were. He saw her body stiffen in fear.

 

“Fuck, Morticia, what do you do? Sit around all day feeling sorry for yourself I bet.” He took a swig from his flask, basking in the way her head snapped up to look at him, eyes widening and happiness reigniting.

 

“Rick!” She cried jumping at him, causing him to step to the side to avoid the hug. Ricks’ don’t do hugs, or any sign of affection really. He watched herself pull herself off the ground. “I thought you were dead.”

 

“No, no, no. I was just playing dead. Good news though, Morticia.” He allowed the corners of his lips to lift ever so slightly. “The whole thing’s going to be over really soon.”

 

“What?” She was confused, not that Rick could really blame her. It’s not like she was as smart as him.

 

“It’s a dream, Morticia.” He moved his hands in front of his face as if explaining the concept to his granddaughter.  “We’re in your dog’s dream. The night the dogs’ capture us, after you panicked and feinted, w-we all went to sleep. Then I used my dream inceptors to put the two of us inside Snuffles dream.”

 

“B-but… it’s been like a whole year?” Seriously he could understand but he wasn’t going to wait for her to catch up.

 

“It’s been six hours. Dreams move one one-hundredth the speed of reality, and dog time is one-seventh human time. So, every day here is like a minute.” He allowed his shoulders to shrug. “It’s like ‘Inception’, Morticia. If it’s confusing and stupid, so is everyone’s favorite movie.”

 

He did not miss how her eyes narrowed, why the fuck did she like the boring ass movie so much?

 

“L-l-l-look, d-don’t worry about it, Morticia. Take these,” He held out a handful of pills which his idiot granddaughter took without questioning.

 

“Are these pills supposed to wake me up or something?” Rick almost felt bad for the little shit.

 

_Almost._

“Close.” He said pinching the space between his thumb and pointer finger, as if to show the tiny marginal difference. “It’s going to make your kidneys shut down.”

 

“What?!” He could hear her panic, nothing new really.

 

So why did he feel the need to reassure her?

 

“It’s necessary for the plan, don’t even trip dawg.”

 

======

 

Snuffles cringed as he looked upon Morticia.

 

            She truly was dog’s best friend, and to see her hurting and dying in such a painful manner brought a heavy weight upon his heart. He was glad for the steady beat of the heart monitors as he clasped her hand. Snowflake stood beside him, having gotten to know the tiny human.

 

“It’s pretty bad, Emperor Snuffles.” A familiar voice told him. Not that he paid it much mind. He needed Morticia to open her eyes, not figure out how he knew this doctor dog. “We’re going to need to do another operation.”

 

“Anything.” He said, Snowflake leaning into him as a form of comfort, “anything for my precious Morticia.”

 

He was upset when a dog wearing a tie questioned his authority and decisions.

 

“Do you think they would have done this for us?” The question made the dictator realize something he had been missing since the very beginning.

 

“We are not them.”

 

======

 

Morticia stood before Snuffles with her family.

 

“Taking over the humans’ world will lead to nothing but more heartbreak, more cruelty. Instead, we will go to a new world and colonize it with a society of intelligent dogs, one that will not make the same mistakes as humanity and one where pet insurance will be mandatory.”

 

“I’m going to miss you, Snowball.” He was her best friend, her biggest supporter.

 

“You can call me Snuffles, Morticia.” He moved forward to hug her. “And I am going to miss you too, very much.” He licked her forehead before disappearing into the green wormhole.

 

            She ignored her father’s crying in favor of standing by her Grandpa Rick. They stood in a comfortable silence, allowing the events of the last twenty-four hours to sink in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, this story will follow closely with the show, like really closely. There is a twist, a cookie to anyone who can guess it.
> 
> Some basics to understand when reading this:
> 
> 1\. This is not a Rick/Morty (Morticia) fit. Everyone is entitled to their ships, which means I have a right not to ship it.
> 
> 2\. Because this is a female incarnation there may be episodes I do not do, like the one with Morty Jr., simply because growing up there are different standards set for boys and girls developmentally and one thing about Morty Jr. means Morticia would have to be pregnant. These chapters will be replaced with problems that may relate to the twist, or the puberty of a female. Please respect that.
> 
> 3\. I haven't decided if I want to make this a Morticia/Jessica fic yet. Even if this does become a ship it won't be as prominent as in the show for several reasons that relate to the twist.
> 
> 4\. That being said Morticia is bisexual 
> 
> 5\. Morticia is cisgender.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment!


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